Date:	Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:41:58 -0400
From:	Gregory Haskins <ghaskins@...ell.com>
To:	Nick Piggin <nickpiggin@...oo.com.au>
CC:	mingo@...e.hu, srostedt@...hat.com, peterz@...radead.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-rt-users@...r.kernel.org,
	npiggin@...e.de, gregory.haskins@...il.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 3/5] sched: make double-lock-balance fair

Nick Piggin wrote:
> On Tuesday 26 August 2008 22:23, Gregory Haskins wrote:
>   
>> Nick Piggin wrote:
>>     
>>> On Tuesday 26 August 2008 06:15, Gregory Haskins wrote:
>>>       
>>>> double_lock balance() currently favors logically lower cpus since they
>>>> often do not have to release their own lock to acquire a second lock.
>>>> The result is that logically higher cpus can get starved when there is
>>>> a lot of pressure on the RQs.  This can result in higher latencies on
>>>> higher cpu-ids.
>>>>
>>>> This patch makes the algorithm more fair by forcing all paths to have
>>>> to release both locks before acquiring them again.  Since callsites to
>>>> double_lock_balance already consider it a potential
>>>> preemption/reschedule point, they have the proper logic to recheck for
>>>> atomicity violations.
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Gregory Haskins <ghaskins@...ell.com>
>>>> ---
>>>>
>>>>  kernel/sched.c |   17 +++++------------
>>>>  1 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
>>>>
>>>> diff --git a/kernel/sched.c b/kernel/sched.c
>>>> index 6e0bde6..b7326cd 100644
>>>> --- a/kernel/sched.c
>>>> +++ b/kernel/sched.c
>>>> @@ -2790,23 +2790,16 @@ static int double_lock_balance(struct rq
>>>> *this_rq, struct rq *busiest) __acquires(busiest->lock)
>>>>  	__acquires(this_rq->lock)
>>>>  {
>>>> -	int ret = 0;
>>>> -
>>>>  	if (unlikely(!irqs_disabled())) {
>>>>  		/* printk() doesn't work good under rq->lock */
>>>>  		spin_unlock(&this_rq->lock);
>>>>  		BUG_ON(1);
>>>>  	}
>>>> -	if (unlikely(!spin_trylock(&busiest->lock))) {
>>>> -		if (busiest < this_rq) {
>>>> -			spin_unlock(&this_rq->lock);
>>>> -			spin_lock(&busiest->lock);
>>>> -			spin_lock_nested(&this_rq->lock, SINGLE_DEPTH_NESTING);
>>>> -			ret = 1;
>>>> -		} else
>>>> -			spin_lock_nested(&busiest->lock, SINGLE_DEPTH_NESTING);
>>>> -	}
>>>> -	return ret;
>>>> +
>>>> +	spin_unlock(&this_rq->lock);
>>>> +	double_rq_lock(this_rq, busiest);
>>>>         
>>> Rather than adding the extra atomic operation, can't you just put this
>>> into the unlikely spin_trylock failure path rather than the unfair logic
>>> there?
>>>       
>> The trick is that we *must* first release this_rq before proceeding or
>> the new proposal doesn't work as intended.  This patch effectively
>> breaks up the this_rq->lock critical section evenly across all CPUs as
>> if it hit the case common for higher cpus.
>>     
>
> I don't exactly see why my proposal would introduce any more latency, because
> we only trylock while holding the existing lock -- this is will only ever add
> a small ~constant time to the critical section, regardless of whether it is a
> high or low CPU runqueue.
>   

Its because we are trying to create a break in the critical section of
this_rq->lock, not improve the acquisition of busiest->lock.  So whether
you do spin_lock or spin_trylock on busiest does not matter.  Busiest
will not be contended in the case that I am concerned with.  If you use
my example below: rq[N] will not be contended because cpuN is blocked on
rq[0] after already having released rq[N].  So its the contention
against this_rq that is the problem.

Or am I missing your point completely?


>
>   
>> This modification decreased 
>> latency by over 800% (went from > 400us to < 50us) on cpus 6 and 7 in my
>> 8-way box namely because they were not forced to wait for all the other
>> lower cores to finish, but rather completions of double_lock_balance
>> were handled in true FIFO w.r.t. to other calls to
>> double_lock_balance().  It has to do with the positioning within your
>> FIFO ticket locks (though even if ticket locks are not present on a
>> given architecture we should still see an improvement.)
>>
>> When a low cpu wants to double lock, it tends to hold this_rq and gets
>> in line for busiest_rq with no bearing on how long it held this_rq.
>> Therefore the following scenario can occur:
>>
>> cpu 0                     cpu N
>> ----------------------------------
>> rq[0] locked
>> ..
>> ..
>> ..
>>                                double_lock(N, 0)
>>                                rq[N] released
>>                                blocked on rq[0]
>> ..
>> ..
>> ..
>> ..
>> double_lock(0, N)
>> rq[N] locked
>> double_lock returns
>> ..
>> ..
>> ..
>> ..
>> rq[0] released         rq[0] locked
>>                                   double_lock returns
>>                                   ...
>>                                   ...
>>                                   ...
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>>
>> So double lock acquisition favors the lower cpus unfairly.  They will
>> always win, even if they were not first.  Now with the combination of my
>> patch plus your ticket locks, entry into the double lock becomes FIFO
>> because the "blocked on rq[0]" would have inserted it in the
>> time-ordered head of rq[0].
>>     
>
> Right, but I don't think it is particularly wrong to allow a given
> CPU to double_lock_balance ahead of another guy if we're already holding
> the lock.

Its not "wrong".  Its just a latency source ;)

>  _So long as_ the lock we are trying to acquire is uncontended,
> and we don't introduce this skewed unfairness due to lower CPUs being
> allowed to hold their lower lock while higher CPUs have to release their
> lock and first queue on the lower.
>
> The difference is that with my patch, there is a small window where the
> guy who asks for the double lock first will go through second. I don't
> think this really adds a fundamental amount of latency, and the
> performance benefit should not be ignored.
>
> Linux's traditional and I suppose much largest user base does not require
> realtime or really strict fairness, so IMO it is always questionable to
> make changes like this.
>   
Please take a look at the v2 series that I sent out yesterday.  I have
now predicated this on CONFIG_PREEMPT, per your comments.

-Greg


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